“I think Ellen will b a great judge on Idol,” she Twittered Thursday. “She is wildly funny, talented and I wish her the best of luck!”

Former judge, Paula Abdul, abruptly announced she would not be returning to the show on her Twitter page back in August. It is said to have been due to contract negotiations. Paula felt she deserved more money than what AI was offering. In an interview with Ryan Seacrest, Ellen promises to be the “honest” judge who will “bring compassion” to the show. In addition, she intends to keep fellow judge Simon Cowell in check.

“I’ll tell him the same thing I tell him when he’s on my show — that he’s mean,” she said. “You can be constructive, and you can criticize someone in a way that’s helpful and not mean-spirited.”

Ellen, 51, will begin her stint after the audition rounds, which will feature a rotating group of celebrity guest judges including Shania Twain, Victoria Beckham, Mary J. Blige, Joe Jonas and Kristin Chenoweth.

Ellen also confirmed the announcement at her talk show taping Wednesday, “I’m going to have a day job and a night job,” assuring her audience that The Ellen DeGeneres Show will continue. “This is so exciting for me.”

Former judge, Paula Abdul, abruptly announced she would not be returning to the show on her Twitter page back in August. It is said to have been due to contract negotiations. Paula felt she deserved more money than what AI was offering.

American Idol runner up Adam Lambert officially came out in Rolling Stone magazine this month, but another interesting tidbit Adam revealed was his crush on Kris Allen.

Adam tellsRolling Stone, “I was like, ‘Oh, s–, they put me with the cute guy,’ “Lambert recalls of bunking in the Idol mansion with Allen. “Distracting! He’s the one guy that I found attractive in the whole group on the show: nice, nonchalant, pretty and totally my type – except that he has a wife. I mean, he’s open-minded and liberal, but he’s definitely 100 percent straight.”

And what is Kris Allen’s reaction to this new crush? “I’m flattered,” the Idol winner says, “And think it’s hilarious.”

Kris Allen has officially signed a record deal. The American Idolwinner has inked a deal with Jive Records and 19 Recordings.

Kris says in a statement, “As exciting as the last few months have been, I’m really looking forward to what is next. I’m very grateful to be working with Simon Fuller and his team at 19 Entertainment, along with Barry Weiss and Jive Records, on my debut album.”

And what should the fans expect from his new album? “It will be very similar to what you heard from me on the show — definitely in the pop/rock genre. I can’t wait to get started!” Allen said. His album is slated for a fall release.

According to the The Chicago Tribune, Oscar-winning Dream Girls star, Jennifer Hudson is reported to be 7 months pregnant. A baby shower was held Saturday in her native town of Chicago. The shower was well attended by friends and family members.

Since the sex of the child wasn’t revealed most of the gifts were neutral colors. Jennifer who is engaged to I Love New York 2 contestant (and Harvard Law grad) David Otunga — told Access Hollywood earlier this year: “I definitely want a family. You know, I’m almost 30 now, so they gotta get started sometime.”

When asked about the wedding ceremony, she plans to keep it quiet and include her three dogs — Oscar, Grammy and Dream girl — in the ceremony. Oscar might be the ring bearer,” said the American Idol alum, who recently finished a tour with singer Robin Thicke. “We’ll send them down the aisle with a little tux.” Hudson tells USA Today that she wants a traditional and classy wedding surrounded by friends and family members.

The baby news comes seven months after the tragic deaths of her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew, who were murdered late last year. Hudson returned to the spotlight in February after taking time off.

Kara DioGuardi is confirming her time is up as a judge on American Idol after this season. The reason being that Kara only signed on to do one season.

Kara tells TV Guide “I’m only here for one season,” she says. “That’s what we’ve discussed. So we’ll see what happens. Hopefully they’ll keep me on.”

Simon Cowell was also asked on whether or not Kara would be back next season, he said, “I would imagine so, but the only say I have is about Ryan, Randy and Paula. I’ve always made it clear that I wouldn’t like to do the show without them. So that’s all I’m really concerned about.” Interesting comment by Simon, it might be safe to say Kara won’t be coming back next season.

Lil Rounds and Anoop Desai were the first victims of a new American Idol rule which led to their double elimination on Wednesday night. The two spoke to People about being eliminated and their plans for life after American Idol. Rounds, 24, began the competition as a clear judges’ favorite, and is still trying to understand why she fell out of favor. “I kind of got to the point where I was like, ‘Okay, I don’t know if I can win with them,’” she said. “I can honestly say I went up there and gave it everything I had each time my foot touched that stage.” Rounds, a married mother of three, plans on going back home to her new townhouse in Memphis. Her husband also got her a new puppy as part of their pact, that she would get one if she made it on the show. Desai has no immediate plans to return to his master studies at the University of North Carolina. “I plan on pursuing any record deal I can get,” said Desai, “Right now that’s my no. 1 priority. My only priority. My wildest dream was that I would be a pop star. And thanks to this show, that dream is going to become a reality. I have faith in my own ambition.”

American Idolwill reportedly go back to its usual way of judging the contestants—each judge gives a critique—on Tuesday night’s performance show, according to a set source.

The Fans were very unhappy with last week’s judging process during which the producers opted for “judging in pairs.” Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul would judge one contestant, and Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi would judge the next contestant, and so on. This was done in an attempt to keep from going over its allotted time as it had the week before.

A poll done by Eonline showed that 68.2 percent of the fans voted against voting in pairs, saying they wanted to hear what all four judges had to say about each performance. The fans also voted as to which judge was their least favorite and the results were rather interesting –

Ok Magazine is reporting that the two female judges on American Idol, Kara DioGuardi and Paula Abdul are alledgedly at war with each other. And their tension is all stemming from the fact that they are both in danger of losing their jobs next season. “The plan to add a fourth person backfired,” an Idol insider told OK! about the troubles that have been mounting since Kara joined the cast at the beginning of this season. “Now the producers are left with a tough decision: Do they go back to the original three-judge format, or leave Kara there?” Paula had previously taken a snipe at Kara when she talked to OK in January saying, “Kara and I get along great and have known each other for years, but we tried four judges before when we had celebrity guest judges sitting in, and it just doesn’t work.” Kara hit back in a statement: “Paula has a right to her opinions, but I was disappointed by her comments and hurt that she did not address them to me in person.”